Apparantly this just came out a week ago in Japan, and since we haven't had a topic yet on these boards, I'm starting this up. Anyone heard any opinions from importers and the like on this game? Still think it looks awesome, 'course. :P

I just heard of this today and being in relation to the SMT seires, I was interested and looking at the trailer moakes me want it more. I intend to aquire it myself though I can only comment on how the game is like due to my lack of understanding japanese text.

The opening trailer movie looks incredible, but as far as the combat....it looks a bit bland if you ask me. But what do I know? I don't import, you guys tell me. Cool how you can summon monsters, though. Everything else looks spot on.

And knowing how much I enjoyed past SMT games, I'll probably adore this one.

Adventure style gameplay combined with SMT sensibilites? You've got to be kidding me? This is going to be the best game ever. I really like the sound of the battle system, too - a variation of the Press Turn system taking place in real time is a very interesting idea.

Is it just me or did the trailer say Taisho 20? Wouldn't that be 1932? So I'm guessing this game occurs in some alternate reality where the Taisho emperor and Rasputin didn't die when they were supposed to?

US President Thorman sets off a bunch of ICB missiles that decimate Tokyo and plunge the world into an apocalypse. Hence, SMT 2 is set in the post apocalyptic future.

But Devil Summoner takes a whole "what if?" regarding that whole scenario. In those games,

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US President Thorman is killed and the missiles don't go off.

So everything turns out differently.

With SMT, your main enemy is "God" but in Devil Summoner, your main enemy is more tangible; Sid Davis in Devil Summoner and his Phantom Society in Soul Hackers.

One thing the Devil Summoner games added to the SMT formula was the idea of "demon loyalty" where you had to give your minions tokens and such to keep them loyal to you, or they wouldn't do your bidding in battle. From what I understand, it got ridiculous in the first game and horribly skewed the difficulty balance. I liked the GUMP (GUn type coMPuter) that the Devil Summoner protagonists got to equip. More cumbersome than the arm-type computers from SMT, but certainly more badassed.

I remember in the interview in the Eternal Punishment fandisk that Kaneko and Okada wanted to have a MegaTen game set in an earlier era, because though the games were usually set in modern or post-modern times, the whole idea of persona, demonology/ demon summoning, and all the dark spirituality are concepts that are universal throughout time and were oftentimes a greater part of more ancient cultures when people believed more in magic than in science.

Is it just me or did the trailer say Taisho 20? Wouldn't that be 1932? So I'm guessing this game occurs in some alternate reality where the Taisho emperor and Rasputin didn't die when they were supposed to?

Taishou 20 would have been 1931. Still, this game definitely looks interesting. I'm not sure whether I will like the gameplay, but visually it looks intriguing.